As generative AI evolves, Accenture’s Audrey O’Mahony said the skills organisations really need will be the ones that are ‘uniquely human’.
A recent report from Accenture found that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has the potential to contribute up to €148bn to Ireland’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) by 2038, representing a 22pc increase over the baseline forecast.
Hilary O’Meara, country managing director of Accenture in Ireland, said that Ireland stands at a “pivotal moment in its AI journey”.
The report was launched at an event in Dublin on 9 December, where SiliconRepublic.com spoke to senior leaders from the multinational to find out more about the report and what it means for the future.
“We’re just two years on from the launch of ChatGPT now, and what we would see from a market perspective is that there have been three waves of activity,” said Denis Hannigan, data and AI lead for strategy and consulting at Accenture UK and Ireland.
“Initially, the focus was around information gathering, education and a little bit of experimentation. Then, the second wave was around a big race to get some capability into production. More recently, the focus has been on trying to really drive out some value.”
However, amid this value-driven approach is the need for a properly skilled workforce that can rise to the challenge of a GenAI future.
“I think at a national level, we’ll have more collaboration to get the right skills in place, to get the right guardrails established, and to get the right infrastructure across organisations and indeed, the economy to drive value out of GenAI,” said Hannigan.
When it comes to the skills themselves, Accenture’s report found a significant gap, with those surveyed saying that 64pc of the workforce still require reskilling.
Additionally, fewer than half (45pc) of Irish executives report that their workforce are confident in their digital skills to leverage this technology.
But Audrey O’Mahony, the talent and organisation lead for Accenture UK and Ireland, said it’s important not to focus solely on technical upskilling.
“Interestingly, our research is telling us that the type of skills organisations need are the ones that are uniquely human,” she said.
“That means things like, how do you think about problems, do you have a growth mindset, do you have a curiosity to learn, are you able to navigate and influence across your organisation, whether that’s internally or with your clients, and do you have the commercial skills to operate in a GenAI-enabled world?”
She said this is encouraging for workers as it has the potential to create a world of work that maximises the jobs that allow them to be their “most uniquely human selves”.
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